My son has been seeing a gastroenterologist at Children's Hospital for his GERD (silent reflux) since he was just a couple weeks old. He's has reactions to milk and soy, but the doctor refuses to test him saying that "it wouldn't be accurate anyway....", so she just has us avoiding all the more "allergenic" foods. He eats wheat, but that's about it. Sometimes he breaks out in hives, or little eczema patches. I think he is being exposed off and on to something, but I don't know what. We knew he was allergic to milk since he was just a few days old. We started giving him soy milk when he turned a year old and he reacted badly with hives, diarhea, vomiting, eczema. The GI doc said if he did not pass the "soy challenge" she would refer us to an allergist. Now he is almost 2 years old and she still won't refer us. She thinks the testing is not accurate, but I would like an allergist to decide that. Should I go to my primary care doctor to get this straightened out or try to convince her some more? She wants to wait until he is 2 and if he still has reflux do an endoscopy. Needless to say I am a little frustrated by these people. I have suffered with food allergies for a long time, so I put him on a hypoallergenic diet myself when I saw him having symptoms. I took him to their nutritionist they insisited I see and she just handed my diet plan I designed back to me and told me to follow it and pretended like SHE was the one who designed it! I am sick of doctors.

_________________2 year old son: allergic to milk--waiting to introduce other allergens

Yes, I'd suggest going to your family doctor and getting a referral to an allergist especially because of family history with allergies. The testing isn't accurate, but it can be a guide---to confirm your experience or to suggest foods you could try avoiding in case it would clear up symptoms. It seems to me that even if there were false positives it would be better to follow this route than to avoid all majorly allergenic foods! that's probably so much less accurate and possibly more restrictive. I hope you can find a good allergist and get this straightened out.

I agree with you Lisa, I think a referral to an allergist from the family doctor is in order. Shai, a referral to an allergist can take several months - at which time your child may already BE 2 years old. Requesting a referral now is important. Doctors may not agree to the need to see an allergist at an early age, but our son was seen AND tested at only 12 months of age. He was only tested for the foods we strongly suspected (5 foods at the time), and all 5 foods came up as positive tests. A visit to the allergist can be traumatizing for a child (and the parents!), but I feel this visit gives the family the necessary tools to deal with this health issue.

I just wanted to let you know you're not alone. It took my daughter having 2 horrible reactions - 1 was anaphylaxic (She had many before such has bad exzema and hives but no Dr ever mentioned food allergies) and then me breaking down in our GP's office before he referred us to an allergist. He also didn't think we'd get accurate results. I'm pretty sure the only reason we were finally referred was because I really pushed it - I had asked before and he said they likely wouldn't test until she was 4! Wrong!!! THe allergist did't do as many tests as I wish he would have but her back is pretty small and it was pretty tramatic for her. (she just turned 2 in Dec) I would go to your GP to get a referal though.

Yes, I think I will take him to the family doctor and try a referral for an allergist. Last night I tried corn and he broke out in those hives, and today his poop was runny and acidic. I hate restricting his diet so much! We don't keep milk or eggs in the house because I have such intense reactions to both, so we are not worried about that. But I would love for himto at least be able to have soy milk. He's ben on rice milk and it can be hard to find and very expensive. He is worth it though. I'm just keeping him off allergens while he is very young so he can have a half normallife later when he starts school. I am a bit paranoid myself. Since I have had anaphelectic reactions I worry about him. It can make you feel helpess to watch it happen to your child! It's very scary.
Thanks for your suggestions and reassurance. I'm glad I found this place.

_________________2 year old son: allergic to milk--waiting to introduce other allergens

Oh honey my heart goes out to you, my 2 year old was diagnosed with reflux when she was 1.5. We had to go through hospitolizations and lots, lots of denial, we finally did the surgery and she is still struggling(she is on a feeding tube and eating orally) (we are the story below you on this webpage) If we would of tested her younger we might not be where we are, I had social services investigate me, (I have been doing daycare for 10 years,) they found nothingl, we have had a 2 handfuls of doctors, and yet NO ANSWER, sometimes moms know best, and after watching everything we have so far and the suffering and pain she has gone through, if feel doctors are very hard to trust, you need to remeber this is YOUR child and if you feel you need an allergist, you call you main doctor and tell them that, more than likely they will send you or you do what I have done and demand you see one, they don't like to be hasseled, the more you push the quicker you might get an answer. like I said I am sure your doctor will send you with out a problem, it sounds like YOU know what your doing and keep up the good work, if you ever need to vent, I am here for you sarah

shaiThe good news is that if your son is proven to be allergic, he can possibly outgrow some of the allergies. It is not a life sentence. And it is much easier to control the diet of little ones, than when they get on into school.

As a child, I had classic GI food allergy symtpoms. I was tested for everything but food allergies. I suffered many years and was not diagnosed until a very good Gastroenterologist referred me to an Allergist for my IBS symptoms. I was 30 years old. My Allergist agrees that had I been diagnosed and put on an elimination diet as a child, I would a) not have suffered so much and b) probably outgrown most of my allergies.

Specialists are usually very good within their own field, but many have little knowledge of other areas such as allergy. I third the opinion that you should get your Ped to recommend an Allergist. Especially with the hives.

Sarah, I'm lucky that my son was diagnosed so young with the GERD. He was only a couple weeks old and suffered from vocal cord dysfunction from it. It was scary and seemed like he was choking at times. I also have VCD and GERD, so I knew what I was looking for. With the food allergies it just seems more tricky if you don't know exactly what is causing the symptoms. Thanks for your support. I hope your daughter improves with time. I have faith that they all will.

_________________2 year old son: allergic to milk--waiting to introduce other allergens

Daisy, I am definitly going to call our family doctor tomorrow. If I see him specifically, not one of his assisstants, he will do any referrals I ask for. He's really cool. I just want the testing done so I can have a better picture of what I am dealing with. Even just an all over IGE count to see if he is having allergic problems would help! I have that done for me once a year, and if it is high I have a re-do of my RAST. I've tried to get my regular doctor do a RAST on him, because he does it for me, but he seems scared off by the idea. He says he should send him to a pediatric specialist because he doesn't know what he is looking for. It's diffcult because the closest pediatric allergist is 2 hours from here. :/

_________________2 year old son: allergic to milk--waiting to introduce other allergens

Hi Saih - I would say....get a new docotor. I know it's easier said than done. Try going back to your family doctor and asking for a referal. My daughter was tested at 13 months of age. I had concerns with dairy, egg and sesame - the testing confirmed these allergies, plus peanut. For the next 2 1/2 years, we strictly avoiding all of these allergens, even in trace amounts. We were also advised to avoid all seeds, all nuts and shellfish just to be on the safe side. My daughter has just been re-tested and the allergist thinks she is out growing her allergies. We still have many restrictions, but according to the latest evidence, her future looks bright. As far as I know, there is no "proof" (meaning randomised control trials) that decreasing exposure leads to eliminating the IgE antibodies, but it just makes sense that it would when considering how the immune system infants develops within the first years of life. We saw Dr. HamPong in Ottawa and he was and is more than willing to perform skin prick tests on toddlers. Good luck.
Sandy

We also had our children tested quite young - Xavier was only 5 months when he was skin prick tested (and diagnosed allergic to wheat and milk at the time). Max was 2 yrs but that was only because we didn't know what was going on (our GP wasn't terribly clued in about allergies - I had to demand the referral, actually).

I would definitely do whatever you can to try to see an allergist. It makes me so mad to hear of people being denied referrals to allergists... Children are suffering and potentially consuming their allergens unnecessarily. Parents are worrying when they could be getting help. Grrr....

Well, I took Griffin to the allergist today and he does not think testing will do any good either. He says that Griffin is obviously allergic to soy, milk, and corn from his reactions, and that his own experiences with these foods is the best test there is. It's just difficult. I would like to be able to feed him all different foods again some day, but I don't know when. They just said a "few more years." With my history of food allergies it's better to be safe and wait until he is four or five. My new allergy testing came back that I am allergic to EVERYTHING but nuts. So, more testing in a couple weeks. In the mean time I am just concerned about my son. I feel kind of guilty because I have reflux and allergies and now he has reflux and allergies, I feel like it is my fault.

Just posted to you on the Welcome page. So sorry to hear about your day. Please do not feel guilty about your allergies. I have terrible allergies, but my daughter does not. I have terrible allergies, but my parents do not. Just rotten luck, I think. I have even heard of twins where one is allergic, the other is not.

I think your Doc is right on target. The "gold standard" is a food challenge. Your son is already reacting to these foods, so you don't want to give them to him. anyway. Look at it this way...this is the only time in his life you will have this much control over his foods. Better now, than when he's older. Kids really don't sweat it. They are so flexible! If they grow up eating a certain way, that's just the way it is. I think allergies bother us parents way more than the kids. Just the way we're programmed to think now. with all the restaurants and international foods. When I was growing up, pizza was exotic! I did not even try Chinese food until I was in college.

I forgot to add to your other post about your allergies: try rotating your "safe" foods. I have been doing this for awhile. It seems to help control my reactions a little better. And eating foods in their proper season seems to help. Especially with fruits. Even some non-allergic people get "oral allergy syndrome" when they eat certain fruits while trees are blooming.

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